While countries have dragged their feet for years on meaningful climate action, many cities around the world have forged ahead with sustainability efforts. In July, about 60 mayors pledged to fight climate change at a two-day conference hosted by Pope Francis.

A report issued last week by CDP, a a U.K.-based nonprofit, and AECOM shows that "96 cities—one third of cities participating in CDP—are already taking action to decarbonize their electricity supply. And 86 percent of these cities say taking action on climate change presents an economic opportunity."

This year, 308 cities reported to CDP. Nearly half a billion people call these cities home—equivalent to the combined population of the U.S., UK and France. The report found that "currently over a third of cities get more than three quarters of their electricity from non-fossil fuel sources, showing that cities are actively using cleaner energy sources."

There's huge potential here: "Power generation is the single largest carbon emitter in the energy market globally, producing 12.6 gigatons of CO2 in 2015," says CDP. "With cities consuming 78 percent of energy globally, establishing renewable power sources for them can have a major impact on global emissions."

"One of the biggest challenges for cities is often their lack of direct control over their electricity or energy generation," said Conor Riffle, director of cities and data innovation at CDP. "Despite this, cities have been finding ways to shake up their energy mix and inspire a move away from fossil fuels. As greenhouse gas emissions continue to mount, it is more important than ever that we seize the opportunities of a low-carbon future. Cities are well placed to lead this transition."

Worldwide, 109 cities have set renewable energy or electricity targets. Latin American cities are the least reliant on fossil fuels to power their electricity, though many rely on high amounts of hydro. The cities average 76 percent of their electricity from renewables. Brazil alone has at least 15 fully fossil fuel-free cities, and several others that are close to 100 percent renewable.

European cities are next. Participating cities there averaged 59 percent. Asia Pacific cities are the most dependent on fossil fuels, while North America and Africa fall somewhere in between Europe and Asia Pacific. Participating Asia Pacific cities receive, on average, 15 percent of their electricity from non-fossil fuel sources.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Reykjavik, Iceland; and Curitiba, Brazil are some of the cities worldwide that have already met the 100 percent renewable energy goal. Stockholm, Sweden has pledged to be free of fossil fuels by 2040.

"I have set the ambitious goal for Stockholm to be—not just climate neutral—but fossil fuel free by 2040," said Karin Wanngård, the mayor of Stockholm. "I am fully aware that the city must excel in all aspects to reach this goal. Stockholm is already an acknowledged global climate leader, where energy consumption decreases, as do emissions and waste. Measuring and reporting our progress are extremely important tools in helping us succeed and to ensure that the city of Stockholm continues to be a frontrunner when it comes to fighting climate change."

Canberra, Australia has committed that by 2020, 90 percent of its electricity supply will be from large-scale renewables—delivering a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Sydney, Australia is aiming for 30 percent renewables by 2030.

There are a number of islands taking the plunge as well. Samso in Denmark became the first island in the world to go 100 percent renewable. Tokelau in the South Pacific, El Hierro in Spain’s Canary Islands and Kodiak Island in southern Alaska have all eliminated fossil fuels from their electrical supply. Aruba, St. Lucia, Grenada, the British Virgin Islands, the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, and San Andres and Providencia, and Belize all participate in the Ten Island Challenge, which was created by Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson’s climate group the Carbon War Room, now partnered with Amory Lovins’ think tank the Rocky Mountain Institute, to encourage islands in the Carribbean to tap into their abundant supply of sunshine and wind to transition to renewable energy sources.

The world's unregarded forests are at risk. Intact forest is now being destroyed at an annual rate that threatens to cancel out any attempts to contain global warming by controlling greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study.

As the world's population grows and the planet warms, demand for water will rise but the quality and reliability of the supply is expected to deteriorate, the United Nations said Monday in this year's World Water Development Report.

"We need new solutions in managing water resources so as to meet emerging challenges to water security caused by population growth and climate change," said Audrey Azoulay, director-general of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in a statement. "If we do nothing, some five billion people will be living in areas with poor access to water by 2050."

Despite a court-ordered injunction barring anyone from coming within 5 meters (approximately 16.4 feet) of two of its BC construction sites, opponents of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion sent a clear message Saturday that they would not back down.

Twenty-eight demonstrators were arrested March 17 after blocking the front gate to Kinder Morgan's tank farm in Burnaby, BC for four hours, according to a press release put out by Protect the Inlet, the group leading the protest.

Climate change is a big, ugly, unwieldy problem, and it's getting worse by the day. Emissions are rising. Ice is melting, and virtually no one is taking the carbon crisis as seriously as the issue demands. Countries need to radically overhaul their energy systems in just a few short decades, replacing coal, oil and gas with clean energy. Even if countries overcome the political obstacles necessary to meet that aim, they can expect heat waves, drought and storms unseen in the history of human civilization and enough flooding to submerge Miami Beach.

Trump has loudly declared his intention to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris agreement, but, behind the tweets and the headlines, U.S. officials and scientists have carried on working with international partners to fight climate change, Reuters reported Wednesday.

A Hollywood scriptwriter couldn't make this up. One day after new data revealed widespread toxic water contamination near coal ash disposal sites, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Scott Pruitt announced a proposal to repeal the very 2015 EPA safeguards that had required this data to be tracked and released in the first place. Clean water is a basic human right that should never be treated as collateral damage on a corporate balance sheet, but that is exactly what is happening.